Founder chairman of Dr Reddy Laboratories Anji Reddy dead

Hyderabad: Kallam Anji Reddy, the founder chairman of Dr Reddy's Laboratories, died today at a hospital in Hyderabad following brief illness. He was 73.

He is survived by wife Samrajyam, daughter Anuradha and son K Satish Reddy, who is managing director and COO of the pharma giant.

One of the most well-known faces of Indian pharma industry, Dr Reddy was suffering from lung disorder for last few months and was admitted to a private hospital 10 days ago.

The technocrat-turned-entrepreneur, who started Reddy's Laboratories with a meagre outlay of Rs. 25 lakh in early 1980s, transformed it into $1.6 billion global entity.

Considered as a pioneer of reverse engineering, Dr Reddy made significant contributions in making pharmaceutical products globally competitive and also affordable to the common man.

Born in Andhra Pradesh's Guntur district, he did graduation from Bombay University with specialization in pharmaceutical science and fine chemicals. He obtained his Ph.D in chemical engineering from National Chemical Laboratory, Pune. Soon after his studies, he served in the state-owned IDPL before he founded the company in 1984.

Anji Reddy, who was conferred Padma Bhushan in 2011, established Reddy's Foundation and Naandi Foundation as part of his mission to give back to the society.

He served as a member of the prime minister's council on trade and industry, chairman of Andhra Pradesh Industrial Development Corporation (APIDC), and president of The Indian Pharmaceutical Alliance.